Tooth arrangement for alternate digging and scooping



March 17, 1970 R. B. REINHARD 3,500,562

TOOTH ARRANGEMENT FOR ALTERNATE DIGGING AND SCOOPING Filed April 28,1967 36 36 /Z ff f2 2,@ 22 2@ fe f2 2,@ if f2 f4/Pf6. .9.94 4

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3,500,562 TOOTH ARRANGEMENT FOR ALTERNATE DIGGING AND SCOOPING RichardB. Reinhard, 1291 Georgesville Road,

' Columbus, Ohio 43228 Filed Apr. 28, 1967, Ser. No. 634,684 Int. Cl.E02f 9/28 U.S. Cl. 37-141 4 Claims ABSTRACT oF THE DISCLOSURE Acombination scooper and digger blade for earth moving equipmentcomprising a base blade having a beveled forward edge; spacer blocksmounted on said blade and having forward edges complementary to saidblade edge; members slidably mounted on said blade between said blocks,each of said members having one end beveled to complement the bevel/,ofsaid blade and spacer blocks and the other end being sized and shaped toproject forwardly beyond the edge of said blade, and means to securesaid members with either end in forward position.

This invention relates to an improved adjustable cutting edge forloading buckets such as are mounted on and operated by tractors.

Specifically, this invention constitutes an improvement upon similarstructures shown in Patent 2,824,392, dated Feb. 25, 1958, and Patent2,828,558, issued Apr. 1, 1958.

The patents aforesaid show a bucket which may be used either to scoop orto dig. In scooping, the bucket is attacking already loosened materialsuch as dirt, sand, gravel or snow. In digging, however, the activeedgeof the bucket'itself penetrates and loosens the earth to be scooped upin the bucket and for this latter purpose, the cutting edge should havespaced projecting teeth, whereas in scooping the bucket needs only aplain beveled edge. In said patents, the bucket presents a plane bevelededge for scooping purposes, but spaced along the edge are slidablemembers which when desired can be advanced forward of the main edge toprovide digging teeth. The present invention operates along the samegeneral lines except that each slidable member has a scooping edge atone end designed to lie ush with the active surface of the main blade,and an enlarged tooth at the other end designed so that when reversedrelative to the member may present a protuberant digging tooth.

It is an object of this invention to provide an adjustable blade asaforesaid which will be cheap to manufacture, easy to operate, and inwhich opposite ends are used for the two separate purposes so that whenthe members are aligned with the blade for scooping operations, the wearis just the same on both blade and members, and when used for diggingoperations, a primary wear, which is encountered by the projectingmember ends, is concentrated on those ends so that there is no tendencyto overwear the members as distinct from the blades.

The above and other objects will be made clear from the followingdetailed description taken in accordance with the annexed drawing, inwhich:

FIGURE l is a perspective view, partially in section and partiallydisassembled, showing the blade in relationship to the bucket;

FIGURE 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a rear elevation partly in section, taken on the line 3-3 ofFIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3, taken from the right hand sideof FIGURE 2, and looking in the opposite direction;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view from the underside of one of the slidableadjustable members; and

United States Patent O ICC FIGURE 6 is a section similar to FIGURE 2,showing the slidable member reversed from the position of FIG- URE 2.

In FIGURE 1, the member 10 indicates generally a bucket of the typemounted and operated on and by a tractor, said bucket having a bottom 12and sidewalls 14 with the bottom 12 terminating in a beveled front edge16. The main blade 18 is coextensive in length with the beveled edge 16of the oorm12, The blade 18 underlies the floor 12 and is spacedtherefrom by a series of spacing blocks 20 which not only Vsepara-.tethe blade 18 from the floor 12 but are themselves spaced lengthwise ofthe blade 18 to receive slidable reversible members 22. In practice, theblade 18 and the spacers 20 are secured to the oor 12 by means of rivets24, at which time the blade 18 and the spacer members 20 define a seriesof spaced channels, each receiving a tooth member 22.

The blade 18 has a continuous forward beveled edge 26 and each of thespacer blocks 20 has a forward beveled edge 28 so that, as shown inFIGURE 1, the s pacer blocks 20 and the blade 18v present a continuousforward beveled surface which merges with the beveled edge 16 of thebottom 12.

Each of the members 22 has at one end a digging edge 30 and at theopposite end a scooping edge 32. As a matter of angularity, these edgesare precisely the same as the edges 26, 28 and 16.

Along the rear edge of the blade 18 there are formed a series ofrearwardly directed projections 34 which terminate in upstanding lugs 36extending above the upper surface of the blade 18. The height ofextension of the lugs is precisely that of the members 22 and the innerconfronting surfaces of the lugs 36 have inwardly directed bevels 38which mate with the sides 40 of the members 22, as best seen in FIGURE3. The spacer members 20 have their side edges similarly beveled toengage the edges 40 of the members 22, as best seen in FIGURE 4. As bestshown at 42 in FIGURE l, the rear edge of the spacer members 20 abutagainst the lugs 36.

In FIGURES 1 and 2, the members 22 are in the di-gging position with theedges 30 of the members 22 in the active forward position. They aresecured in this position by pins 44 which pass through apertures 46 inthe lugs 36 and occupy hemispherical grooves 48 formed in the members 22and in mating grooves formed in the projections 34. When the pins 44 arewithdrawn, the members 22 may be slid forward and removed from the blade18 and members 20. They are then reversed and their digging edges 32 areintroduced at the rear of FIGURE 1 and are slid forward until the edges32 register with the edges 2 6, 28 and 16, at which point the pins 44are reinserted to maintain the structure in scooping condition and thisis illustrated in FIGURE 6.

It will be clear vfrom the foregoing that during scooping operationswith the parts, as shown in FIGURE 6, the edges 32 wear equally with theedges 26, 28 and 16. When the parts are reversed to the position ofFIGURES l and 2, primary wear occurs on the edges 30 which lbear thebrunt of breaking the soil or whatever material is being dug into. Thenet effect is vastly to increase the life of the members 22. Thestructure as a whole has been simplified and its cost reduced as againstthe structures shown in the above-mentioned patents on which the presentinvention constitutes an improvement.

By preliminary placing of a few short rivets 24, the blade 18, spacers20 and members 22 may be preassembled and shipped as a unit ready forapplication to a bucket 10.

While in order properly to describe the invention, reference has beenhad to certain particular details of construction, these may 'besusceptible of changes by those skilled in the art. It is not intended,therefore, to limitthis in-v vention to the precise details disclosedherein, but 'only as set forth in the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. For use in conjunction with a bucket adapted to be mounted on andoperated by a tractor, a blade assembly comprising: a blade having anelongated, continuous beveled forward edge and spaced pairs ofupstanding lugs along its rearward edge; spacer members along the upper'side of said blade defining, with the lugs of each pair, spaced,.parallel channels transverse said blade, said spacer membershavingbeveled forward edges complementary to the beveled edge of saidblade; tooth members spaced along said continuous beveled forward edgeslideable in said channels and occupying the lspace Ibetween said spacermembers, said blade and the bottom of said bucket, each of said toothmembers having one end beveled to form' a continuation of the bevel ofsaid blade, the other end of cach tooth member being extended downwardlyto cover and conform `to the bevel of said blade, each tooth memberbeing reversible so that either of said ends may be placed in aforwardly extending working position, and means for holding vsaid toothmembers in xed position with either end forward.

` 2. An assembly as set forth in claim 1, in which said holding meanscomprise pins penetrating said tooth lugs and said members.

3. An assembly as set forth in claim 1, in which the walls of saidchannels interengage with the side walls of said tooth members to guidethe same and to restrain the same against vertical movement.

4. An assembly as set forth in claim 1, in which said spacer membersabut against said lugs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,769,998 7/1930 Jenkins 37--1411,918,169 7/1933 Arndt 37-142 2,824,392 2/1958 Reinhard 37-1412,828,5584 4/1958 Reinhard 37-141 l EDGAR S. BURR, Primary Examiner`U.S. Cl. X.R.

